Academy ousts Lady Rams in Class 4A tourney

RIO RANCHO – Albuquerque Academy ended Portales High’s season and advanced to Saturday’s semifinals in the Class 4A state volleyball tournament with a 25-22, 25-19, 25-19 win over the Lady Rams on Friday at Rio Rancho Event Center.

The second-seeded Chargers (18-8) advanced to a Saturday morning semifinal against city rival and No. 5 seed Hope Christian. The first two days of the 12-team event were double-elimination, while Saturday’s final four was single-elimination.

Junior middle hitter Skyler Massey posted 22 kills, two blocks, seven digs and two aces for PHS (17-10). Senior libero Angel Ornelas notched 37 digs and three aces while senior setter Myleigh Banda had eight kills, nine digs and 37 assists and senior defensive specialist Tya Rippee added 14 digs.

After going 1-1 on Thursday, the sixth-seeded Lady Rams (17-10) defeated 10th-seeded Taos 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18 during the morning session.

Massey had 20 kills, two blocks and two aces against the Lady Tigers (13-11) while Banda had 31 assists and 14 digs and Ornelas earned 23 digs and a pair of aces.

“We played well against Academy and really well against Taos,” PHS coach Bailey Greenwalt said. “We haven’t won a lot of matches at state (lately), so I’m glad we broke through there. I’m glad we went our playing well.”

Portales lost an earlier match against Academy in a tournament at Moriarty, had first-set leads of 15-8 and 20-16 this time before the Chargers rallied with a game-ending 9-2 run.

“We played so much better against them this time,” Greenwalt said. “They’ve got a lot of really good players.”

Thursday – The Lady Rams had no trouble disposing of 11th-seeded Gallup in the first round, winning 25-7, 25-15, 25-11, but they stumbled in the winners bracket quarterfinals in a 25-23, 25-20, 25-23 loss to third-seeded Santa Teresa.

Massey collected 17 kills, two blocks, three aces and five digs in the win over Gallup (16-9). Rippee posted team highs with eight digs and four aces, while senior libero Angel Ornelas collected seven digs and three aces and Banda notched 28 assists.

“We really dominated that match,” PHS coach Bailey Greenwalt said. “If we’d come out with that same energy (against Santa Teresa), I think we would’ve won.”

Greenwalt said the sets ended up close against the Lady Warriors, but for the most part PHS was coming from behind. The Lady Rams led Game 3 early 7-2, but fell behind and surrendered the final two points at 23-23.

“We came out really flat,” Greenwalt said of that matchup. “We serve-received well, but we couldn’t put the ball away.”

Massey collected 23 kills and a personal-best 22 digs against Santa Teresa, to go with four blocks and an ace. Banda had seven kills, 15 digs and 37 assists, while Ornelas notched 27 digs.